1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable, adjustable rack designed to hold a fish for convenient cleaning and filleting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The awkward and sometimes hazardous process of cleaning and filleting fish has been well known to fisherman for many years. The naturally slick surface of fish make them difficult to hold for cleaning which poses a potential danger to the fisherman from injury with a knife. The job proves to be especially difficult when slicing the midsection of the fish for disemboweling. This cleaning procedure is best accomplished when the fish is supine, however without some kind of fish holder it is a difficult and dangerous position to maintain by hand while using a knife.
A past art patent search was conducted to examine portable fish cleaning devices which hold the fish supine for cleaning as well as on the side for filleting. Those devices which appeared most pertinent to our invention were found in the following U.S. classes and subclasses:
17/70, 55, and 169/54.5.
One past art device remotely suited for holding a fish supine was the device taught by Bloecher in patent number 2,464,114. This invention however is not designed as a fish cleaning device but as a holder for carving meat, and would require the user to support one side of the fish against the vertical wall to maintain a supine position.
Several of the past art inventions, such as the devices taught by Bahde in patent No. 867,812, Bloecher, Snead U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,269 and Shouldis U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,630, do not provide a knife and knife holder with their devices This is an inconvenience to the user who must remember to pack a separate knife when transporting the device or who must track one down each time the board is used. Although a cleaver is provided with the Bahde device for use in severing the heads and tails of the fish, a knife would still be required for disemboweling and filleting.
The Andrews and Bloecher devices also appear to be provided as non-portable stationary cleaning devices as they would be difficult to transport due to the exposed spikes.
Our invention overcomes the disadvantages of the past art devices and provides new and useful benefits which we feel are not offered by other related inventions